Crosswire — October 14, 2026
DAILY BRIEFING
GEOPOLITICS
Russian Oil Output Keeps Sliding, and It Explains the Refinery Truce Push
What changed: OPEC secondary-source data put Russian crude production in September at about 8.643 million bpd, down 38,000 bpd from August. That is a far smaller drop than August's 174,000 bpd, so the decline is slowing but has not reversed. Output now sits roughly 1.3 million bpd below Russia's OPEC+ quota.
The mechanism:
Ukrainian strikes on refineries and ports have cut Russian refining capacity.
Producers have pushed crude exports to record levels to compensate, but a global tanker…
The skinny
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